Norland Place or Hawksdowne House?

[svevush]

My lovely DS has a place at both schools and I am finding it hard to make up my mind as to which school he should go to. Any advice? Thanks very much!!!

The schools are very different. What are you looking for in a school? Which gave you a better feeling? How do the 8+ exits compare?

And, most importantly, which one would suite DS best?

Hi, thanks for response. DS seems quite bright and we are looking for somewhere academic which can give him a good chance of going into a good prep school but will also let him have fun and develop his creativity etc. I find it difficult to make up my mind after just one visit. I think I liked Hawksdowne House better but Norland PLace seems to have such a great reputation! A bit lost….

If you think that you'll want him to take 7/8+ - try to get understand if Norland does anything to prepare the boys. I don't know if it does or not, but from what I've seen mixed schools don't want boys to leave at 7/8, so they don't prep them for exams. And it becomes a stressful catch up game for parents to replicate at home what boys only pre-preps do to get their boys ready for those exams.
It you are in a mixed school you can do 11/13+ and skip the early exams.
I heard it mentioned that boys benefit from having girls in the classroom (while girls don't necessarily), so that can be a consideration.
If I were you - get the facts about exit points and results for both schools. And then make a decision based on what path you want him to take.

thanks very much, thats really helpful.

Both prepare for the 7+/8+. Their both lose their boys after these exams.
Norland house has very good results (which does not mean all boys get offers from 7+/8+ schools) but I have never come across the results for Hawkesdowne house.
Having been through this process, most pre-preps for boys can only do so much: in the end boys either have or do not have the ability to pass a selective assessment. That said, the value of parental implication should not be underestimated.